Stress / Focus of the brain
The HRV is a method, describing the variability of the heart rate, which has been established a long time. This is regulated by the rhythmic changing activity of the parasympathetic and sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). in relation to the distance between each heartbeat, a healthy human heart (in contrast to the general assumption) does not beat exactly regularly, but subtly irregularly (RR1, RR2).
Stress situations, caused by physical and / or mental stress, lead to an adaptive response of the heart, showing a decrease in the variation range from beat to beat of the heart rate. On the other hand, during rest and relaxation the variation range increases.
Several thousand studies related to HRV show one common fact; the better the HRV the better we regenerate, adapt to stress and the more efficiently we respond to supplements and medications.
Focus of the brain – reduction of the HRV = focus of the heart (?)
A very interesting observation is the direct influence of our ratio / thinking to the HRV.
The moment we focus our thoughts, our HRV values decrease.
Through our continuously chattering mind, our worries and our daily focus on all kinds of things, we literally “train” our heart to beat less variable. We teach our children to focus at very young age already. We tell them that they have to focus and concentrate to become successful one day. We tell them how they have to “bring it to the point”.
The brain with its ratio could also be described as a “focus organ”. As we can only focus with our eyes on one layer/point our brain too can only focus on one thought at a time. One cannot have two thoughts, no matter how intelligent one is, at the same time.
This focus of the ratio can literally be shown in a live plot of the RR intervals of the HRV.
The interesting observation we made during the last years is that the moment a person becomes present, meaning no thoughts, no worries or focus, simply being in the Here and Now completely, the HRV automatically starts to increase again.
The moment we think we are not present, we are in a horizontal movement. Thought needs time. Thought has developed through time and needs time to express itself.
The problem is that the thinker cannot say to the thought: “Stop thinking”.
Especially if we are overloaded with worries and fears it is difficult to stop thinking about it. When a person is confronted with a certain problem it is literally impossible to stop thinking and focussing on it. This focus and fear leads to a further decrease of the HRV values and thus nurtures the defined problem.
Finding inner peace
How can we become present? How can we relax and reach a state, where real healing can take place? How can we interact / get in coherence with the continuously changing frequency of our surroundings?
Through meditation practices we can learn to calm our mind. The problem is that it takes quite an effort to learn and reach a deep level of meditation. Furthermore, if we are very stressed, and especially worried in our daily life, or even if someone gets diagnosed with a serious illness, it becomes very difficult to reach a high level of inner peace.
It is interesting that the moment we use and are aware of our senses and the information being sent to the brain, thinking and focus cease. In that state the HRV increases and the sympathetic activity decreases.
We cannot really hear, feel, taste, smell, see and think at the same time.
We can use our senses superficially and think at the same time. But if one really sees, observes, without comment, really sees (or use another sense) without separating oneself with the brain and its comments, the brain gets quiet.
In the ancient Sanskrit texts of the Vedas, the Upanishads is already beautifully written “…What cannot be seen with the eye, but that whereby the eye can see…What cannot be heard with the ear, but that whereby the ear can hear…”.
The German word for end or quit is aufhören.
Auf-hören literally means to listen to something. So the moment we really listen, our thinking activity stops. The separation from the me/I/Ego from the surroundings, the separation from the observer with the observed ends through listening “auf-hören”.
This post is also available in: German